Shelley Fralic: It’s time to redneckonize as the U.S. Deep South rises again

If you watch television — arguably the ultimate social mirror of modern culture — you could well be convinced that the gaping gulf that separates the earnest urban northerners from the gun-toting, barbecued free spirits of the southern U.S. is best explained these days on the small screen.

Or put another way, hicksville is the new hip.

As the traditional sitcom becomes the stuff of mothballs — where once the sitcom ruled the tube, today you can count on one hand its dwindling hits — reality television has taken over the cable universe.

Reality is the black sheep breadwinner of 21st-century television, a scriptless cheap-to-make gold mine that seems to have no bottom.

And make no mistake: while critics denounce reality television as lowest-common-denominator entertainment and long for more Masterpiece Theatre-style fare, the great unwashed are tuning in by the millions, unable to turn away from the real-life train wrecks and interminable cat fighting and wrenching confessions, unable to resist the skeletons falling out of closets all over the land, as if being a fly-on-the-wall witness to camera-influenced chaos somehow makes us feel better about our own messy lives.

The reality audience, truth be told, often surpasses that which tunes into the traditional critics’ favourites — last fall, the critically reviled and overtly distasteful Here Comes Honey Boo Boo drew 2.8 million viewers for its season finale; the critically acclaimed and stylishly smart Mad Men attracted 2.7 million for its.

Which brings us back to the bayou, from whence Honey Boo Boo emerged last year to introduce “redneckonize” and “vajiggle jaggle” to the popular lexicon.

Seems we love us some southern fried reality.

This month, two new shows have joined the dozens of Deep South hits that have introduced viewers to a brave new world of southern pride and soul food. Over the past few years alone, we have fallen hard for the folks who populate Swamp People, Duck Dynasty, Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta, Glamour Belles, Hillbilly Handfishin’, Lizard Lick Towing, The Moonshiners, My Big Redneck Wedding, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Top Chef Texas, Toddlers and Tiaras, American Digger, Storage Wars Texas, Steven Seagal: Lawman, Billy the Exterminator and Sweet Home Alabama.

There’s a lot of camouflage and alligator wrestling, back fat and bodacious beards, but there is also a fascinating perspective on an emerging southern ethic.

You can’t watch Duck Dynasty and not love Si Robertson and his brother Phil, who invented a duck call that has made him a millionaire but has not convinced him to give up his uncluttered, technology-free life in the swamp even as his sons drive Maseratis and live in mansions.

Bayou Billionaires, which debuted this month (along with My Big Redneck Vacation), similarly focuses on the nouveau riche Dowdens of Shreveport, whose lives changed — and didn’t change — when a gas company discovered their home sits atop the fourth largest natural gas deposit in the U.S.

You can’t tune into Swamp People and, even as you cringe with each bullet to the head of each alligator, not admire the work ethnic or simple life that fosters a taste for deep-fried frogs legs and tight family legacies.

And while the danger is that the contrivance that often comes with unblinking television cameras can interfere with the so-called realism of the sub-genre — in too many of these shows there is an unsettling focus on the rural-living, moonshine-swilling, uneducated white southern stereotype, living it up in hillbilly heaven while whistling Dixie — the reality is that many of these shows have also opened a window on an ethnically diverse, culturally vibrant and politically progressive south that swells with pride in its sweet tea, shotguns, NASCAR and good old boys named Bubba.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Share

Shelley Fralic: It’s time to redneckonize as the U.S. Deep South rises again